SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “Medicare”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1978

Hospital emergency room utilization in Montreal before and after Medicare: the Quebec experience.

The impact of the introduction of Medicare in Quebec on hospital emergency room services was examined in Metropolitan Montreal. After Medicare, the emergency room visit rate increased 14 per cent per year compared to a 7 per cent per year increase in the five years preceding Medicare. The outpatient clinic visit rate continued an upward trend (4 per cent per year). In six of the hospitals selected for more detailed studies, patient interviews revealed that before Medicare 33 per cent of emergency room attenders attempted to contact a physician before reporting to the emergency room and 63 per cent were successful in speaking to the physician. After Medicare, 39 per cent attempted but only 38 per cent were successful. Before Medicare, 47 per cent of patients said that their usual source of care was a private physician, and only 17 per cent usually sought care in the emergency room. After Medicare 58 per cent reported a private physician and 31 per cent the emergency room. These findings together with the increased population density of physicians and increased annual number of physician visits per person suggest that there has been a substantial rise in demand from the public for medical care of which one important early manifestation is an increased reliance on emergency rooms.

Attitude to Health↗

PubMed1978

Geographic variation in physicians' fees. Payments to physicians under Medicare and Medicaid.

To study geographic differences in physician fees recognized by the Medicare and Medicaid programs, we analyzed physician reimbursement rates at the national, regional, state, and county levels. The results indicate that nationally, Medicaid specialist fees are 77% of Medicare specialist fees. Meidcare specialist fees in metropolitan areas are 23% higher than those in nonmetropolitan areas, but there are no differences under Medicaid. State Medicare specialist fees varied from 73% to 132% of the national Medicare average, while Medicaid specialist fees ranged from 49% to 179% of the national Medicaid average. State Medicaid fees for specialists ranged from 39% to 100% of Medicare specialist fees. These results indicate that under national health insurance, fees set at national or statewide levels could have notable effects on physician remuneration in some localities.

Fee Schedules↗

PubMed1979

Carrier discretionary practices and physician payment under Medicare Part B: a preliminary report.

Although Medicare is a national program, administration of Part B payments to physicians is in the hands of insurance organizations in ten Medicare regions. The carriers follow varying practices in using actual charges within localities as the basis for determining reasonable charges for physicians' services. While some of these practices have already been shown to influence fee levels, reasonable charge determination involves many more whose influence has not been systematically studied. This paper reviews preliminary findings from a study which examines carrier differences in discretionary practices as to specialties, localities and other claims data that may be merged or compared with Medicare data in determining customary and prevailing prices used to set limits on Medicare payments, and other practices reported in an official questionnaire to carriers. The effect on fee levels and other measures of program performance is being studied after taking into account social, economic and health resource variables extracted from the Area Resource File, that are expected to influence local medical prices through the demand for and supply of physicians' services. Dependent variables representing fees are the 50th percentile of the distribution of weighted customary charges of individual physicians in an area and Supplementary Medical Insurance expenditure per enrollee. The preliminary findings in this paper concern discretionary practices, socioeconomic variables and fee distributions.

Decision Making↗

PubMed1977

Substitutability among different types of care under Medicare.

The question of whether Medicare coverage of outpatient services, nursing home care, and home health care reduced the use of short-term hospitals by Medicare beneficiaries, and whether reduced hospital use saved the Medicare program money, is reexamined by use of a simultaneous-equations model estimated by the two-stage least-squares method. It is argued that all alternative modes of care must be examined simultaneously for accurate results. The findings partly support and partly contradict results of previous studies: both outpatient care and nursing home care can substitute for hospital care, but a complementary relationship between outpatient and nursing home care indicates that the additional coverage resulted in greater, not less, expenditure by Medicare.

Ambulatory Care↗

PubMed2026

Enhancing Evidence Generation by Linking Randomized Clinical Trials to Real-World Data: The INVESTED-Medicare Linkage Study.

Real-world evidence (RWE) derived from real-world data (RWD) can complement randomized controlled trials (RCTs), yet the validity of RWD relative to RCT data remains insufficiently characterized. We obtained post hoc consent and linked individual participant data from the US-based INVESTED trial (2016-2019) with Medicare fee-for-service claims (2012-2020) to validate demographic factors, baseline characteristics (using 183-, 365-, and 730-day lookback periods) and outcomes, and to assess post-trial events. Among 5260 trial participants, 126 were enrolled and eligible for linkage. Among 115 participants with demographic information available from Medicare enrollment files, agreement between RCT- and RWD-based demographic factors was high: only one major age discrepancy, 100% agreement for sex, and an overall agreement of 0.89 for race. Participants with Medicare claims data (n = 65) were older and more likely to be White compared with the overall RCT population. For the 365-day lookback period, baseline comorbidities showed high sensitivity (median 0.80) and specificity (0.89), as did medication use (sensitivity 1.00, specificity 0.88). Lengthening the lookback period to 730 days increased sensitivity but decreased specificity, whereas shortening to 183 days decreased sensitivity but increased specificity. Clinical outcomes showed high specificity (0.88-0.94) but low sensitivity (0.18-0.50). Among those with Medicare coverage beyond the trial end date (n = 45), 22% experienced cardiopulmonary, 18% cardiovascular, and 7% heart failure (HF) hospitalizations, highlighting the value of RWD for extending RCT evidence. Proactive planning of future RCT-RWD linkage initiatives can improve the efficiency of linkage studies, leading to more actionable results.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1976

Rates and correlates of expenditure increases for personal health services: pre- and post-medicare and medicaid.

This investigation of the increases in expenditures for medical care of the noninstitutionalized population of the United States in two recent periods suggests the following: Price increases contributed substantially more to overall expenditure increases in both periods than did use increases. Hospital price increases contributed most to overall price increases in both periods. Drug use in the first period and hospital use in the second period contributed most to overall use increases. The so-called "free services" made a substantial contribution to increases in use between 1963 and 1970, while apparently making no contribution in the earlier period. In the pre-Medicare/Medicaid period, use increase were greatest among the working-age and male population. However, increases in use also seemed to be relatively high among the low-income group. In the most recent period, use increases shifted not only to the elderly and the very young, but also to the group 55-64. The relatively high rate of use increase for males and the low-income group continued. These findings, then, suggest that institution of the Medicare and Medicaid programs was accompanied by acceleration of some trends that were already taking place, i.e., relatively high rates of increase in the use of health services for the low-income population and the aged. Some groups not considered to be target populations for the programs, such as those 35-54, showed a reduction in their use rates; others those 55-64, increased their use. Finally, the non-white population showed no greater rate of increase in use of health services than the white population, even though the former would presumably be considered a target group.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1978

Tax and Medicare aspects of hospital malpractice insurance. Part 1.

This first part of a two-part article on how tax laws and Medicare regulations affect hospital malpractice insurance discusses self-insurance mechanisms, particularly trust funds. Relationships among tax exemptions, Medicare and other intermediaries' reimbursements, investment income from such funds, and payments to and from the funds are examined.

Income Tax↗

PubMed1977

Control of fraud and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid.

This Comment explores issues concerning the control of fraud and abuse in health programs financed with public funds, specifically the Medicare and Medicaid programs. It summarizes the nature, scope, and possible causes of what some regard as a fraud and abuse "crisis," and points out the difficulties and obstacles facing those who attempt to develop legislative and executive action aimed at controlling fraud and abuse. Recent federal initiatives in fraud and abuse control are examined, and a brief summary of key provisions of H.R. 3 (the Medicare-Medicaid Anti-fraud and Abuse Amendments, which may prove to be a landmark piece of legislation in this area) is provided. The author emphasizes that more effective control of fraud and abuse is necessary if further expansion of government financing of health programs, including national health insurance, is to occur in the near future. At the same time, caution must be taken not to neglect the appropriate use of other mechanisms necessary for reducing the costs of medical care and improving its quality. In addition, it is likely that efforts to stem fraud and abuse will raise important medicolegal and public policy issues that will require careful interdisciplinary consideration.

Crime↗

PubMed1978

Hospital admission before and after Medicare in Quebec.

A 1 in 60 random sample of Quebec hospital admission records ("separations") for the years 1966 through 1974 was studied for evidence of change associated with the introduction in 1970 of universal health insurance. Non-surgical separation rates continued to decline in Montreal and remained steady in the rest of the province. In contrast, separations following surgical operation did not decline in Montreal and have increased substantially since 1970 in the rest of the province. Ten operative procedures accounting for 41 per cent of all surgical admissions were selected for separate study: of these, cholecystectomy, hysterectomy and hernia repairs conformed most closely to the new pattern. Directly or indirectly, Medicare may have contributed to these changes but more study is required to confirm or explain this.

Bed Occupancy↗

PubMed1978

Use of out-of-plan services by Medicare members of HIP.

Use of out-of-plan services in 1972 by Medicare members of the Health Insurance Plan of Greater New York (HIP) is examined in terms of the demographic and enrollment characteristics of out-of-plan users, types of services received outside the plan, and the relationship of out-of-plan to in-plan use. Users of services outside the plan tended to be more seriously ill and more frequently hospitalized than those receiving all of their services within the plan. The costs to the SSA of providing medical care to HIP enrollees are compared with analogous costs for non-HIP beneficiaries, and the implications for the organization and financing of health services for the aged are discussed.

Aged↗

PubMed1977

Medicare patients: geographic differences in hospital discharge rates and multiple stays.

Marked regional variations are found in patterns of use of short-stay hospitals by Medicare patients. Variations found in the rate of hospitalization, as measured by the number of discharges per 1,000 enrollees, and on the upward trend in that rate are the focus here. The data indicate that reductions in length of stay are offset by the rising number of admissions. An examination of multiple stays--a major factor in the number of discharges--shows that States with high rates of discharges have high percentages of patients with multiple stays. Furthermore, in these States the percentage of multiple stays is high, no matter what the diagnosis. In other States, the rate is low for all diagnoses. These findings suggest that options exist for the provision of care for the same or similar conditions and that geographic patterns appear in the use of those options. An urgent need exists for research to establish the variables affecting utilization and to explore ways of changing some of the patterns of delivering services.

Aged↗

PubMed1979

Paying for physician services under Medicare and Medicaid.

Public systems for physician reimbursement aim to reconcile two disparate objectives: ensuring availability of services to the poor and aged; and keeping rates of cost increase within acceptable limits. Several interesting--and unorthodox--policy simulations of physician pricing behavior are investigated through econometric estimation. Current arrangement for paying physicians are fraught with difficulties. The objectives of Medicare and Medicaid are not well served.

Aged↗

PubMed1978